Arsenal v Fulham (the team that never beat us): Team news and counting throw in times.

 

The worst record against Arsenal

• Arsenal v Fulham: the referee and the influence he will bring to the game
• Arsenal v Fulham: the PGMO is blown wide open. Now about those lawyers, guns and money
• Arsenal v Fulham. Send lawyers, guns and money

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By Bulldog Drummond

Two bits of transfer news from the Guardian this morning…  One is that Arsenal and Monaco have agreed a €40m transfer for Folarin Balogun with a pretty hefty level of sell-on clauses in the deal, which are apparently to Arsenal’s advantage.   And Kieran Tierney, is reportedly in Spain today joining Real Sociedad on loan.

Elsewhere, there was a time when every preview everywhere started by recounting the number of yellow cards Arsenal had had since a date that made the statistics look alarming.  We haven’t had that for a while but Talk Sprout has gone back to the old ways starting their report with “Takehiro Tomiyasu’s red card against Crystal Palace was Arsenal’s 14th in the Premier League under Mikel Arteta, the most of any side in that time.”  No explanation of possible causes, however.

But elsewhere, as you will probably know, assuming that Bukayo Saka starts he will be playing in his 83rd consecutive match in the league – a record for the Premier League.  

However on the negative side, as we know Takehiro Tomiyasu is banned for taking eight seconds to take a throw-in.  I am hopeful that the entire crowd will count the seconds each Fulham player takes for their throw-ins just for the comparisons to be made.   And we are hoping we might see Gabriel Jesus come on as a latter-stage substitute.

Fulham also have sending-off issues with their captain Tim Ream being banned after a dismissal in the last match.   And it seems Willian has an Achilles problem so might not play for the visitors.

Fulham have the worst possible record against Arsenal.   Since 6 February 1904 when Woolwich Arsenal beat Fulham 3-2 in the FA Cup the total results have been Fulham, eight wins, draws 11, and Arsenal victories 42.

And none of those Fulham victories have been anywhere other than Craven Cottage.  They really never have won at Arsenal.  Their best-ever run against Arsenal was between 29 November 2006 and 23 August 2008, when in five games they won two at the Cottage and Arsenal won the other three (two at Arsenal, one away).   The goal tally was nine for Arsenal five for Fulham.

Since those dark days, there was a run of three draws and a Fulham win across 2011 and 2012, but since 20 April 2013 it has been eight Arsenal victories and one draw.  Across those games Arsenal have scored 24 goals – that is 2.67 a game.  Fulham have scored five: 0.63 a game.  Arsenal have scored at least one goal in each of the last 16 games against Fulham.

In fact, Arsenal’s good run against Fulham extends to other games against London teams – the last 13 games against our neighbours have resulted in 11 wins and two draws.  For Fulham it is the reverse: they have won just one of their last 19 games against London teams in the Premier League.

And a rather nice point for those of us going to the game today is that Arsenal Stadium has seen more goals than any other venue in the Premier League since the start of last season – thanks to the BBC for finding that one.

Plus while we are looking at rather interesting runs, Leandro Trossard has had 10 assists since he first played in January this year – which is more than any other player in the league.  And one other good one to note: Eddie has scored 14 in the last 16 games that he has started at Arsenal.

Considering the team Zinchenko is said to be totally fit, while Wilian and Leno could play for Fulham although there are said to be doubts about Willian’s fitness.

Sports Mole after a starting XI of

Ramsdale;

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;

Odegaard, Rice, Havertz;

Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli

90 Min venture forth with… exactly the same suggestion.

And to return to the Sprout, whom I criticized at the start, they do have this to say: “Leandro Trossard has more assists than any other player in the Premier League since his Arsenal debut in January 2023 (10), with three of those coming against Fulham in March. He’s averaging an assist every 95 minutes in 2023, the best ratio by a player in a calendar year in Premier League history (min. 500 minutes played).”   So it’s not all bad news.

Or put another way, there isn’t much bad news at all.  No wonder the papers aren’t saying much about Arsenal.

Meanwhile from the Arsenal History Society: Players warned about drinking before a match